The prosperity of Kunqu Opera and its dominance in the drama world lasted for about 230 years, that is, from Qin Long in Ming Dynasty and Wanli to Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (1570- 1800). This is the most brilliant and remarkable stage of Kunqu art, and there has been a prosperous scene of "every family cleans up, and every household is not on guard". Dramatists' new works are constantly appearing, the performing arts are becoming more and more mature, and the division of labor is becoming more and more detailed. From the form of performance, from the whole legendary performance to the performance of traditional Chinese opera. The performance of Zhezi Opera not only deleted the soft and scattered venues, but also selected some wonderful paragraphs in the play to enrich and enrich it, making it a short play that can be performed independently. With its vivid content, meticulous performance and various artistic styles, Zhezi Opera made up for the defects of the script at that time and brought a lively situation to the performance of Kunqu Opera. There have been a number of work dramas with the theme of life, Dan, cleanliness and ugliness, which are masterpieces that the audience can never tire of watching.
Kunqu opera has rich repertoire, elegant and beautiful script dictionary and high literariness. Just reading the script is a kind of beautiful enjoyment. Many lyrics are actually beautiful and beautiful poems. Kunqu opera became the first vocal opera with the most writers and works in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Kunqu opera has a unique sound cavity system. Its pronunciation pays more attention to four tones, strictly abides by the rules and regulations, and its singing is mellow and melodious, with a slow rhythm; Its tune is the Qupai style in China's classical literature. Our Kunqu opera pays attention to the style of Qupai, and each play consists of a complete set of Qupai. A complete performance system. The performance of Kunqu Opera is very dancing, closely combined with singing, and it is a highly comprehensive art form integrating singing, dancing, speaking and acting. The literature, music, dance, fine arts, performers, programs and accompaniment bands of China Opera are all perfected and matured in the development of Kunqu Opera.
The Kunqu Opera repertoire * * * retains more than 400 pieces of Nanxi Zhezi Opera, legendary works and a small amount of Yuan Zaju. The existing scores of Zhezi Opera are Nashuying, Zhiyunge, Liu Ye, Kunqu, Integrated and Sulu. Archaeological Records of Textual Research is an earlier character spectrum. There are more than 100 performances, such as Huan Sha Ji-Ji Zi, Bao Jijian-Ye Ben, Ji-eating tea, writing books, peony pavilion-playing with learning, visiting the park, dreaming, seeking dreams, receiving paintings, calling for paintings, and the hostess Ji-Qin picking and painting.
Kunqu opera performance is a comprehensive art in which singing, dancing, media, Bai and other performance means cooperate with each other. After long-term artistic practice, it has formed the expression form of song and dance. Its dance forms can be roughly divided into two types: one is the freehand dance with auxiliary posture and gesture development when speaking; One is lyric dance with lyrics. Zhongzhou rhyme is the main rhyme in chanting, and clowns also have local rhymes based on Wu dialect, such as Su Bai.
The roles of Yangzhou Bai and other Kunqu opera are also divided into very fine lines: the old students are redundant, extreme and secondary; Pupils are divided into official students, towel students, pheasant students and shoe students. Dandan is divided into Zheng Dan, Assassination Dan, wudan, Liu Dan and Lao Dan. Pure ugliness can be divided into big face, white face, second face, small face and so on. All walks of life have formed their own set of procedures and skills in performance. These stylized action languages have formed a complete and unique performance system of Kunqu opera in depicting characters, expressing their psychological state, rendering drama and enhancing appeal.
The music and performance skills of Kunqu Opera have a profound influence on most modern national vocal operas. For example, the performances of Beijing Opera and Yue Opera are greatly influenced by Kunqu Opera. The role singing of various roles in Beijing Opera is also developed on the basis of Kunqu Opera. In addition, Beijing Opera, Sichuan Opera, Wu Opera, Guangxi Opera, xiang opera Opera, Qi Opera, Gan Opera and other operas still retain some operas, tunes and qupai of Kunqu Opera.
The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On June 8, 2007, Suzhou Kunqu Theatre won the first Cultural Heritage Day Award from the Ministry of Culture.